Guanajuato

One of the best things about traveling is finding out about new places to travel. Guanajuato wasn't even on my radar and yet it gained UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1988, has a pedestrian-only city center, a funicular, one of the best universities in all of Mexico and happens to be an hour bus-ride from San Miguel. We fell in love with all the little plazuelas during our three-day stay. Georgia has taken up pigeon-chasing and Xavier played footbal in the streets. I just wanted to stroll, people-watch, drink jugo verde in the cafes and pretend to be a student again.

Thanks

Thanks

with the night falling we are saying thank you

we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings

we are running out of the glass rooms

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky

and say thank you

we are standing by the water thanking it

standing by the windows looking out

in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging

after funerals we are saying thank you

after the news of the dead

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you

in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators

remembering wars and the police at the door

and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you

in the banks we are saying thank you

in the faces of the officials and the rich

and of all who will never change

we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us

taking our feelings we are saying thank you

with the forests falling faster than the minutes

of our lives we are saying thank you

with the words going out like cells of a brain

with the cities growing over us

we are saying thank you faster and faster

with nobody listening we are saying thank you

thank you we are saying and waving

dark though it is

~ W.S. Merwin

Murals of San Miguel de Allende

One of our favorite things to do in San Miguel is finding murals. A few favorites...

At the Bellas Artes:

At the Instituto Allende:

At the Biblioteca Publica (done by the same artist as above, but after he'd been to the coast and tried peyote):

In the Children's Room at the Biblioteca Publica:

Inside the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel:

Outside Fabrica Aurora:

And at the playground at Parque Juarez:

El Dia De Los Muertos

We arrived in San Miguel de Allende just in time for El Dia de los Muertos. I love how death is viewed here in Mexico and embraced as part of life. What may seem macabre is actually an ancient Aztec ritual melded with Catholic traditions which has evolved into a three day party for people to honor and spend time with their departed loved ones (the Aztecs set aside a whole month for these festivities). Family history is passed down, elaborate altars are made and friends and family are reminded to live life to the fullest. Marigolds, the flowers of the dead, are everywhere and decorate arches for the deceased to pass through to return to this world. Families set out photographs and offer the favorite drinks, foods, sweets and possessions of their dead - these ofrendas are remembering spaces. We saw one ofrenda with a photo of the band Kiss and when we asked about it, the daughters laughed merrily and told us their father loved their music. People dress up as Catrina, Lady Death and her male escort, Catrine and stroll the streets. We've enjoyed the fireworks, mariachi bands, stilt-walkers, sugar skull peddlers and face-painters for the past two days and today, November 2nd, we will go to the cemeteries with everyone else in town.

True Love Never Dies
(For when I'm dead)

Please come play at my grave site,
oh how I love annual parties
and now that I'm dead
this one most of all.
Let's celebrate all the things
we love in this life: family,
friends, romance, toasts, food,
laughter, nostalgia, memories,
everything, everything!
Let's talk about every single moment
I was alive and savor each one.
Bring a picnic and armfuls of flowers,
light candles, sing, chat,
tell stories, read poems,
look through photo albums, see my
many loved ones with me
when I was young and beautiful,
and here when I was old
and elegant, all my
grand babies in my lap.
Bring cold bottles of champagne
and hot chocolate in thermoses.
Laugh until you cry as you take
turns doing impersonations of me.
Snuggle children, hang out,
wrap yourselves in blankets,
be comfortable and happy.
Write in my commonplace book -
may there always be blank pages
for jotting notes, love letters, quotes
to add to our conversation into eternity.
Light more candles,
open more champagne
Stay all night long and please
come again next year.

Enjoy and live life!

I Conjured You

Georgia turned two this past week. She has been pretty excited about it and loudly sings "Happy Birthday to me!" to anyone interested: in the check-out lane at the grocery store, to her brother, in the car, to herself. We told her the abridged story of her birth and her big brother wanted to hear his birth story too. We looked through photo books and some pictures from her first birthday - I am so glad I wrote those details down because I'd completely forgotten some of the sweet things!

Now that she's such a big girl, she likes to play with her friends Mimi, Mira, Lindsay and Mekael and Baby Fern (whom she calls Baby Wern). She has many more friends in her co-op preschool class where she goes with Daddy on Tuesdays and Fridays. I asked Teacher Christi how Georgia, the youngest kid, is doing in class and she responded, "She's doing great. She's definitely a girl who knows what she wants!"

I overheard her "reading" - backwards - through In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, "Mickey. Kitchen. Snug-gle. Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cake. Milk. Swimming. Moon. Airplane. Up. Up. Up. Mickey. Kitchen. Make it. Mama. Papa. Quiet down there! Snug-gle. All done!"

She likes to "meep," which means specifically to draw with a black pen - no crayons for this girl. My Uncle Jim, an artist himself, watched her intently drawing, looked at her finished piece and exclaimed, "Just like Cy Twombly!"

A few more endearing things about her at the moment:

• When I give her kissy-tickles, she says, "More-again!"
• She calls her big brother Xavier, "Babier"
• She can be very demanding, saying, "I want mommy milky right now!"
• She requests oatmeal, hot and cold, multiple times throughout the day.
• "Mommy, what doing?" or 'Mommy, what talking about?"
• She insists on putting her own shoes on, often on the wrong foot, and also insists on getting in and out of her car seat by herself.
• When we are all getting ready to go somewhere, she asks, "Mommy too? Daddy too? Babier too? Me too?"
• Every time we stop at a red light while driving, she yells from the back seat, "I wanna go!"
• Her favorite PBS Kids show is Bob the Builder. She shouts, "Can we do it? Yes we can!"
• She loves doggies and doggie kisses.
• When we tell her about something, she listens and then sagely says, "Oh."
• She often grabs a lego piece from her brother, pops it into her mouth and runs away.
• Christian built the fence you see above to keep her in as she'll take off by herself to the park to go swinging.
• She likes to play animal charades with her brother and go swimming in the bathtub.
• Her father is worried she's going to be a little hellion.
• She's a hoot.

I wrote this poem a while back for her. I am still amazed that she is here, that she is mine.

I Conjured You

I asked the doll maker

to give you blonde hair

and make you a girl

dressed in shades of blue,

my own best color.

Shall I stitch her name on?

she asked.

Oh yes, please

I did not hesitate

Georgie.

I was barely pregnant

yearning for a little girl

this time.

The doll arrived

in the mail

just perfect.

You arrived months later

exactly as requested

with only a slight

delay.

Just Like That Hour Today

Today I've been mostly curled up at home on this blustery Sunday feeling very sick with a sinus infection, but happy too, as it's my birthday. Despite having to cancel the babysitter for dinner out last night, a brunch party with friends this morning and a debate dinner party with friends tonight, I'm still feeling surrounded by love. I got to read in bed this morning while my husband made breakfast and my kids made birthday cards for me downstairs. I built Lego with Xavier and read stories with Georgia. We went for a slow walk through our neighborhood park and the kids splashed in the creek. Family and friends called, skyped, emailed and texted. Xavier and Christian baked a cake while Georgia and I napped. Christian roasted a chicken for dinner and we watched spellbound as Hillary beat Trump soundly in the second-to-last debate. Champagne remained corked in the fridge, but that can be enjoyed all the rest of my birthday month.

I think about this somewhat ordinary day in my beautiful life and I feel so grateful for all of it. My extended family and all my friends are healthy and happy. I hear my kids laughing and calling, Mommy, Mommy! I have a warm home in a safe neighborhood. I feel so lucky, so blessed and I don't ever want to take this for granted. 

And in a sweet bit of serendipity, the book I was reading in bed this morning? Joyce Sutphen's poems. A few hours later my friend Kat sent me this poem by Sutphen I'd never read before, which captures the beauty of moments in a life. Yes, it does make me want to go write a list poem of memorable moments in my life. Thanks, Kat. Thanks to all of you for your love and friendship, today and everyday.

Book of Hours

There was that one hour sometime

in the middle of the last century. 

It was autumn, and I was in my father's 

woods building a house out of branches 

and the leaves that were falling like 

thousands of letters from the sky. 

And there was that hour in Central Park 

in the middle of the seventies. 

We were sitting on a blanket, listening 

to Pete Seeger singing "This land is 

your land, this land is my land," and 

the Vietnam War was finally over. 

I would definitely include an hour 

spent in one of the galleries of the 

Tate Britain, looking up at the

painting of King Cophetua and 

the Beggar Maid, and, afterwards 

the walk along the Thames, and

I would also include one of those

hours when I woke in the night and 

couldn't get back to sleep thinking

about how nothing I thought was going

to happen happened the way I expected, 

and things I never expected to happen did—

just like that hour today, when we saw 

the dog running along the busy road, 

and we stopped and held on to her 

until her owner came along and brought 

her home—that was an hour well 

spent. Yes, that was a keeper.

~ Joyce Sutphen